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Updated: Jan 25, 2026

Visualizing Diffusional Dynamics of Gold Nanorods on Cell Membrane using Single Nanoparticle Darkfield Microscopy
Published on: March 5, 2021
Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity of Reactions in Solution Observed with High-Speed Single-Nanorod Rotational Sensing
Qi Pan1, Hansen Zhao1, Xijian Lin1
1Department of Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry & Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
Abstract:
A high-speed darkfield microscope has been developed to monitor the rapid rotation of single gold nanorods (AuNRs) and used to study the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of chemical reactions in free solution. A wide range of viscosities from 237 cP to 0.8 cP could be detected conveniently. We studied H2 O2 decomposition reactions that were catalyzed by AuNRs coated with Pt nanodots (AuNR@PtNDs) and observed two different rotational states. The two states and their transitions are related to the production and the amalgamation of O2 nanobubbles on the nanorod surface depending on H2 O2 concentration. In addition, the local fluidic environment of pure water was found to be non-uniform in time and space. This technique could be applied to study other chemical and biochemical reactions in solution.
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